UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation

Due to climate change, drought, and earthquakes, drinking supplies in the western U.S. and similar climatic regions globally will become strained, especially in densely populated urban areas, such as the City of Los Angeles (City). In response, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power committed at least $6 billion to invest in Pure Water Los Angeles, also known as Operation Next. The initiative would treat wastewater to create a new local, sustainable, and reliable source of over 250,000 acre-feet of drinking water per year. By developing the Operation NEXT Resilience Analysis Model and analyzing about 100,000 scenarios, the researchers found that Operation NEXT would be a strategic investment to address immediate water supply challenges and offer long-term economic and water security benefits. Operation NEXT would: 1) offer substantial regional economic benefits; 2) significantly bolster local water supply resilience; 3) improve resilience to uncertain water imports; and 4) significantly reduce earthquake-driven water shortages. Because climate uncertainty will be the largest driver of the City's water shortage, the project should be designed to be adaptable. This analysis can inform broader planning efforts both in the U.S. and beyond.

(TCC) is an innovative investment in community-scale climate action, with potentially broad implications. Launched in 2017 by the California State Legislature, TCC funds the implementation of neighborhood-level transformative plans that include multiple coordinated projects to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The program is also designed to provide an array of local economic, environmental, and health benefits to disadvantaged communities, while minimizing the risk of displacement. TCC empowers the communities most impacted by pollution to choose their own goals, strategies, and projects to enact transformational change — all with data-driven milestones and measurable outcomes. The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) serves as the lead ad- administrator of TCC. At the time of this report, SGC has awarded 15 TCC Implementation Grants across five rounds of funding to 15 communities throughout the state (ranging from $9.1 million to $66.5 million per site). The state legislature has allocated funding to distribute one additional round of TCC grants.1 The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) serves as the lead evaluator for six communities that have received TCC Implementation Grants across the following funding rounds: all three Round 1 sites (Fresno, Ontario, and Watts), one Round 2 site (Northeast San Fernando Valley), one Round 3 site (Stockton), and two Round 4 sites (South Los Angeles and Stockton). LCI researchers are working with these communities to document their progress and evaluate the impacts of TCC investments. This progress report is the final in a series of five that will provide an overview of the key accomplishments and estimated benefits of TCC-funded activities in the City of Fresno, collectively referred to as Transform Fresno.2 This report documents progress through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2022-2023, which overlaps with about 15 months of post-award planning (January 2018 to April 2019), and 51 months of grant implementation (April 2019 through June 2023). Even though this report is the final progress report authored by LCI, Transform Fresno carries on, with implementation milestones that are expected to continue through October 2025.

(TCC)  is an innovative investment in community-scale climate action with potentially broad implications. Launched in 2017 by the California State Legislature, TCC funds the implementation of neighborhood-level transformative plans that include multiple coordinated projects to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The program is also designed to provide an array of local economic, environmental, and health benefits to disadvantaged communities, while minimizing the risk of displacement. TCC empowers the communities most impacted by pollution to choose their own goals, strategies, and projects to enact transformational change — all with data-driven milestones and measurable outcomes. The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) serves as the lead administrator of TCC. At the time of this report, SGC has awarded 15 TCC Implementation Grants across five rounds of funding to 15 communities throughout the state (ranging from $9.1 million to $66.5 million per site).1 The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) serves as the lead evaluator for six communities that have received TCC Implementation Grants across the following funding rounds: all three Round 1 sites (Fresno, Ontario, and Watts), one Round 2 site (Northeast San Fernando Valley), one Round 3 site (Stockton), and two Round 4 sites (South Los Angeles and Stockton). LCI researchers are working with these communities to document their progress and evaluate the impacts of TCC investments. This progress report is the final in a series of five that provides an overview of the key accomplishments and estimated benefits of TCC-funded activities in Watts, collectively referred to as Watts Rising.2 This specific report documents progress through the end of (FY) 2022-2023, which overlaps with about 14 months of post-award planning (January 2018 to March 2019), and 52 months of grant implementation (March 2019 through June 2023). Even though this is the f inal progress report authored by UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI), Watts Rising carries on, with implementation milestones that are expected to continue through September 2025.

(TCC)  is an innovative investment in community-scale climate action, with potentially broad implications. Launched in 2017 by the California State Legislature, TCC funds the implementation of neighborhood- level transformative plans that include multiple coordinated projects to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The program is also designed to provide an array of local economic, environmental, and health benefits to disadvantaged communities, while minimizing the risk of displacement. TCC empowers the communities most impacted by pollution to choose their own goals, strategies, and projects to enact transformational change — all with data-driven milestones and measurable outcomes. The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) serves as the lead administrator of TCC. At the time of this report, SGC has awarded 15 TCC Implementation Grants across five rounds of funding to 15 communities throughout the state (ranging from $9.1 million to $66.5 million per site).1 The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) serves as the lead evaluator for six communities that have received TCC Implementation Grants across the following rounds: all three Round 1 sites (Fresno, Ontario, and Watts), one Round 2 site (Northeast San Fernando Valley), one Round 3 site (Stockton), and two Round 4 sites (South Los Angeles and Stockton). LCI researchers are working with these communities to document their progress and evaluate the impacts of TCC investments. This progress report is the final in a series of five that provides an overview of the key accomplishments and estimated benefits of TCC-funded activities in the City of Ontario, collectively referred to as Ontario Together.2  This report documents progress through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2022-2023, which overlaps with about 14 months of post-award planning (January 2018 to March 2019) and 52 months of grant implementation (March 2019 through June 2023). Even though this report is the final progress report authored by LCI, Ontario Together carries on, with implementation milestones that are expected to continue through October 2025.

(TCC) is an innovative investment in community-scale climate action, with potentially broad implications. Launched in 2017 by the California State Legislature, TCC funds the implementation of neighborhood-level transformative plans that include multiple coordinated projects to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The program is also designed to provide an array of local economic, environmental, and health benefits to disadvantaged communities, while minimizing the risk of displacement. TCC empowers the communities most impacted by pollution to choose their own goals, strategies, and projects to enact transformational change — all with data-driven milestones and measurable outcomes. The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) serves as the lead administrator of TCC. At the time of this report, SGC has awarded 15 TCC Implementation Grants across five rounds of funding to 15 communities throughout the state (ranging from $9.1 million to $66.5 million per site).1 The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) is the lead evaluator in six communities that have received TCC Implementation Grants: all three Round 1 sites (Fresno, Ontario, and Watts), one Round 2 site (Northeast San Fernando Valley), one Round 3 site (Stockton), and two Round 4 site (South Los Angeles and Stockton). LCI researchers are working with these communities to document their progress and evaluate the impacts of TCC investments. This progress report is the fourth in a series of five that provides an overview of the funded projects, key accomplishments, and estimated benefits of TCC activities in the Northeast San Fernando Valley, collectively referred to as Green Together.2 This specific report documents progress through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2022-2023, which overlaps with about 17 months of of post-award planning (December 2018 to April 2020), and almost 38 months of implementation for funded projects and transformative plans (May 2020 through June 2023). Green Together projects and plans are expected to continue unfolding through the end of April of 2025.

(TCC)  is an innovative investment in community-scale climate action, with potentially broad implications. Launched in 2017 by the California State Legislature, TCC funds the implementation of neighborhood-level transformative plans that include multiple coordinated projects to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The program is also designed to provide an array of local economic, environmental, and health benefits to disadvantaged communities, while minimizing the risk of displacement. TCC empowers the communities most impacted by pollution to choose their own goals, strategies, and projects to enact transformational change — all with data-driven milestones and measurable outcomes. The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) is the lead administrator of TCC. At the time of this report, SGC has awarded 15 TCC Implementation Grants across five rounds of funding to 15 communities throughout the state (ranging from $9.1 million to $66.5 million per site).1 The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) serves as the lead evaluator for six communities that have received TCC Implementation Grants across the following funding rounds: all three Round 1 sites (Fresno, Ontario, and Watts), one Round 2 site (Northeast San Fernando Valley), one Round 3 site (Stockton), and two Round 4 sites (South Los Angeles and Stockton). LCI researchers are working with these communities to document their progress and evaluate the impacts of TCC investments. This progress report is the third in a series of seven that provides an overview of the accomplishments and estimated benefits of TCC activities in Stockton, collectively referred to as Stockton Rising.2 This specific report documents progress through the end of fiscal year 2022-2023 (June 30, 2023), which overlaps with about 30 months of Round 3 grant implementation. This report does not yet account for the accomplishments and anticipated benefits from Stockton’s Round 4 Implementation Grant, which was executed in September of 2023. Details about Stockton Rising’s Round 4 Implementation Grant will be provided during the next cycle of annual reporting. 

California maintains ambitious clean vehicle targets, including a mandate that all passenger vehicles sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035. This paper examines the distributional impacts of six light-duty clean vehicle incentive programs, especially for equity. The authors find that of the more than $1.9 billion allocated, only about $311 million was distributed to households in disadvantaged communities (DACs). The Clean Vehicle Rebate Project and other statewide programs are heavily skewed towards benefitting non-DACs (87.9%). Clean Cars for All and other regional programs have been more effective at delivering funds to DACs (51%). Between 2015 and 2021, nearly every region of the state has increased clean vehicle registration rates, though rural areas and the Los Angeles core remain persistently low. In addition to spatial inequalities, there are disproportionately low clean vehicle registrations among lower-income areas. By projecting current and optimistic rates of adoption to 2035, the researchers found that California is unlikely to reach its goals, and marginalized communities will continue to be far behind in their adoption rates. Policy recommendations include: 1) allocate more funding for equity-focused clean vehicle programs, 2) be creative in maximizing used vehicle inventory, and 3) focus more on delivering rather than merely advertising the benefits of one-stop shops for incentive access.

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This report is a collaboration between the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and a research team of graduate students in the Master of Public Policy Program at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. In this report, we conducted research to understand the intertwined history of redlining and highway development in the state of California, the lasting discriminatory legacies of this history throughout the state, and potential policy solutions to rectify these legacies and advance racial and environmental justice for impacted communities of color. To conclude this research, we analyzed a set of policy options to provide specific recommendations for California State agencies to adopt in order to best achieve these goals. The report begins with an overview of the history of redlining in California, illustrating how decisions in highway development were built on the policy foundation of redlining to disrupt and dispossess marginalized communities and people of color across the state. With predominantly non-white residential areas in California cities officially redlined as “high-risk” areas due to the race of their residents, federal policy formally recommended the use of highways as physical barriers in those neighborhoods to enforce segregation. Additionally, federal policies incentivized local authorities to concentrate disruptive and high-polluting land uses in redlined communities of color so as not to devalue residential neighborhoods that were not already devalued by redlining. Together, these discriminatory policy practices have saddled generations of non-white Californians with socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental burdens not experienced by their white counterparts. These burdens persist today and are linked to diminished outcomes of health, wealth, happiness, and safety for Californians of color. This report primarily examines two specific impacts: residential racial segregation and PM2.5 pollution concentration.  Through a combination of research, mapping, and statistical analysis, striking evidence emerges of the continued heavy segregation of people of color in previously redlined areas and neighborhoods near highways throughout the state. This trend is mirrored and amplified for the segregation of white people in formerly A-rated areas. Furthermore, a positive correlation between highway proximity and PM2.5 levels is amplified in formerly redlined areas and is indicative of the increased burden of overall pollution faced by these communities in California. The research and analysis that underpin these findings utilize data and historical records from all eight California cities subjected to redlining assessments. Throughout the narrative of this history and mapping of its contemporary impacts, Stockton and Los Angeles serve as case studies. After illustrating the ongoing discriminatory harms stemming from the history of redlining and highway development in California, the report examines the current policy landscape across the state to identify challenges and opportunities relevant to efforts aimed at addressing these harms. Challenges include the continued dependence on highways and the political divisiveness of policies explicitly focused on racial justice, while opportunities include increased funding for environmental initiatives and growing support for prohousing, integrated communities across California. 

Catalyzed by how the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the structural inequalities at the root of stark racial and other social disparities in health outcomes, California H.R. 39 (2021) sought to “reduc[e] the unintended negative consequences of bills and [prevent] health and economic disparities” in policymaking by exploring methods to integrate equity considerations more formally into the state legislature’s daily activities. More specifically, H.R. 39 aims “to continue the Assembly’s commitment to investing in equity solutions and maximizing benefits for underserved and marginalized communities” by authorizing the exploration of adopting equity impact analysis into the existing committee hearing and floor action process – the public-facing portion of the legislative process during which legislators seriously consider proposed legislation. Through a review of literature about equity in policymaking and existing legislative equity analysis models and interviews with 10 local and state government staff implementing and/or supporting legislative equity impact assessments, this paper aims to provide information that will help evaluate the potential of, and potentially guide, the development of an equity analysis framework for state legislatures. In total, 14 state, county, and local governments have developed and implemented legislative equity analysis models that are included for analysis in this paper.